CREW requests Health and Human Services records on Price Travel

CREW requests:

1. Copies of all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s use of non-commercial aircraft for any official travel since his confirmation on February 10, 2017. This includes all such authorizations Secretary Price or anyone on behalf of Secretary Price sought, whether or not such authorization was granted.
2. CREW seeks records sufficient to show the amount of money budgeted for Secretary Price’s travel, whether on a yearly or fiscal year basis, for 2017 and 2018, and the amount budgeted for the Secretary’s travel for 2016.

Reportedly in a one-week period alone, Secretary Price traveled by private jet for official business. The costs of this travel far exceeded the costs of commercial flights by thousands of dollars and broke with the practices of Secretary Price’s predecessors.

The requested records would shed light on the justifications for Secretary Price’s use of non-commercial aircraft and the extent to which that use complies with governing standards and regulations. At a time of deep budget cuts government-wide, and the Secretary Price himself has “back[ed] major spending reductions to agencies he oversees and legislation that would cull hundreds of billions of dollars from federal entitlement programs,” , taxpayers have a particularly acute interest in learning the details of Secretary Price’s use and potential abuse of expensive, non-commercial aircraft. The thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars Secretary Price has expended for this travel stands in stark contrast to the financial burden he and the administration seek to impose on the public through drastic cuts in health care funding and coverage.